LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the third time in the last four years, Commerce Lexington Inc. is among the top economic development agencies in the nation, according to Site Selection magazine’s May issue.
Organizations named to the list are presented with the Mac Conway Award for Excellence in Economic Development, which recognizes national/regional economic development offices that were the most successful attracting capital investment projects in 2020.
“In some ways this has been the finest hour for the economic development community. Companies needed an extraordinary amount of help,” said Kenny McDonald (One Columbus), who served as 2020 chairman of the board of the International Economic Development Council, said. “It was a test of trust and a test of whether you had built your collaborative networks. Economic development professionals have responded to meet this demand of our time, everything from the shutdown to the flurry of capital investment that’s now happening under a different environment.”
Named in honor of Site Selection founding publisher H. McKinley “Mac” Conway, this year’s award winners have been evaluated by an index that examines 2020 corporate facility investment as tracked by Site Selection’s proprietary Conway Projects database. Scores are awarded based on six criteria: total projects, total investment associated with those projects and jobs associated with those projects. The remaining three criteria represent a per capita calculation of those same metrics.
“There’s no doubt that 2020 was one of the most difficult years on record for business and industry, but despite the barriers, Kentucky economic development professionals adapted quickly to a new way of recruiting companies. Gina Greathouse and her economic development team at Commerce Lexington, as well as many volunteers across our community, continued to reach out to companies and consultants locally and nationally to provide assistance and resources to better position them for growth and expansion. It took a strong team effort over the last year to maintain some of the momentum from the previous few years,” said Bob Quick, Commerce Lexington president and CEO.
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